Bay's homer lifts Bucs
PITTSBURGH — Jason Bay homered high and deep into the left-field bleachers Friday night, and thought it might've been the longest ball he's hit at PNC Park.
Estimated at 432 feet, the sixth-inning drive sparked the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 1-0, rain-soaked win over the Cincinnati Reds.
"I don't want to say it's irrelevant talking about distance and how far it went, but it's more important that we got the home run and we got the win," Bay said.
Paul Maholm, John Grabow, Damaso Marte and Matt Capps combined on a seven-hit shutout. The Pirates ended a three-game losing streak and won for the first time at home this season.
Center fielder Nyjer Morgan made a leaping catch on the warning track in the gap — avoiding a collision with right fielder Nate McLouth — on a ball hit by Ken Griffey Jr. for the final out.
"I hate losing 1-0 games," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "It won't take away the pain of losing tonight, but we're still getting good pitching. With good pitching, I feel we can win a bunch of games. I feel it coming."
The start of the game was delayed 20 minutes because of rain. There was another 62-minute delay in the top of the sixth when a severe thunderstorm hit that featured some heavy wind and hail.
With two outs in the bottom of that inning, Bay hit a full-count fastball from Jared Burton (0-1) for his second home run in the last three days.
The Reds were shut out despite getting 14 runners. Brandon Phillips had two of the Reds' seven hits.
Maholm went 5Z\c innings, allowing six hits and two walks with two strikeouts. He also hit a batter and committed an error to allow Norris Hopper to reach.
Grabow (1-0) emerged from the rain delay to work out of a two-on, one-out jam to earn the win. Marte induced Edwin Encarnacion to pop up with the bases loaded in the seventh, and Capps pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.
"We said all along if we can get deep into a game with a lead, we feel pretty good," Pirates manager John Russell said. "We've got some guys down there that are very capable of closing the game out. Marte did a great job, Grabow did another great job and then we turn it over to Capps and he does what he can do."
